Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

Mostima glanced one last time in the direction he had come from, his eyes filled with reluctance.

The dangers of this journey have exceeded her expectations. She is unsure if she will be able to return safely.

"I hope I'll have the chance to see you again, Your Highness Wayne."

P.S.: This book is lighthearted, so don't worry about Xiao Mo's safety. Everyone has a bright future ahead of them.

Chapter 81 Don't move! You're going to die!

Victoria, the North, the temporary palace of the King of the North.

As the first rays of dawn broke the silence of the night and awakened the slumbering earth, Wayne finally waited at the gate of the manor for the returning unicorn and the familiar figure in his arms.

This was indeed an unexpected surprise. Before this, Wayne had never imagined that his casually cast hook would catch such a big fish—Reed, the adopted daughter of the King of the North, Wayne's stepsister, and also of Drak blood, one of the strong claimants to the Victorian throne.

If she is the mastermind behind it all, then everything makes sense. The Earl of Princeton rebelled in the name of the King of the North not because he was foolish enough to pave the way for Wayne to seize power, but because the person behind him was the King of the North's daughter, so his rebellion under that name was perfectly justifiable.

But, is it really her?

Wien recalled the image of Reed from his memories—the girl who always followed behind him, calling him "brother" and trying to pull him home. Wien couldn't imagine her setting her sights on the cold Iron Throne and plotting such a terrible rebellion for power.

How should I put it? It's so weird. It's like seeing a strong girl like Vina calling you "Onii-chan" and then crying in your arms, while watching Reed sit on the throne, bossing everyone around and scheming in Terra. It's just so strange.

"Your Highness, what should we do with her?"

"Winter asked in a low voice. He knew Reed and her identity, but to him, who Reed was was unimportant. If she were truly a traitor endangering the country, Winter would certainly eliminate her without mercy. Because the unicorn protected Victoria, not a monarch or an heir."

Reed emerged from the mastermind's lair and was treated with courtesy and respect by the rebel secret forces, which almost confirmed her unusual status in the enemy army. Logically, what Wayne should do now is to secretly imprison Reed and interrogate her in order to thoroughly uncover the rebel organization behind the scenes.

But Wayne didn't want to do that. To him, both the throne and state power were tools; he valued "people" far more. Otherwise, he wouldn't have so easily handed over the readily available throne to Vina.

Although he didn't know much about Reeds in his previous life within the game, and only had a vague understanding of the mysteries behind them, in this life, he had, after all, "lived with" Reeds for several years. Before directly interrogating him, he still planned to try, without resorting to extreme measures, to question them face-to-face.

I hope Wei Cao still acknowledges him as her brother.

Having made up his mind, Wayne waved his hand, dismissing the unicorn that wanted to take the reed away, and said:

"Take her to my room and wait for her to wake up."

Winster glanced at Wayne with slight surprise, but nodded nonetheless.

To be honest, after experiencing the series of events that have happened these past few days, and seeing Wayne's cold-blooded and ruthless destructive behavior, he had subconsciously come to regard Wayne as the King of the North who had purged the royal family, destroyed the nobility, showed no mercy to traitors, and looked down upon all living beings, both on horseback and on foot.

It wasn't until this moment, when Winster saw the hesitation and helplessness on Wayne's face, that he suddenly realized that Prince Wayne didn't seem to be a shadow of the King of the North. Although he possessed wisdom and strength no less than the King of the North, this chess player seemed to have some emotions compared to the King of the North.

Chess players shouldn't have emotions, otherwise they'll hesitate and miss opportunities when they must sacrifice a pawn to save the king. But Wayne is still a boy, still growing. Unlike the King of the North, he has no one by his side but his soldiers and generals. Wayne also has Her Majesty Vina and Theresa by his side; he is not alone.

Winster didn't know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. He could only nod, take the reed from the unicorn, and head into the mansion. Before leaving, he glanced back at Wayne's back, which stood there, lost in thought.

He didn't know if the future would be good or bad, but for now, he had to admit that Prince Wayne, who had feelings for him, was much less stressful to be around than that scheming and manipulative chess player.

"Unicorn, back to base."

........

The Northern King's Temporary Palace, 12:00

Wei Cao groggily opened her eyes, rubbing her aching neck. She stared blankly at the unfamiliar ceiling before her.

"You're finally awake, otherwise I would have had to wake you up for lunch."

Wayne sat by the window, watching the reeds awaken, and grumbled.

This little girl can really sleep. She was brought back to the manor by the unicorn at six in the morning, just as dawn was breaking. Wayne thought that since she had been knocked unconscious, she would probably wake up soon, so he decided to wait for her in the room for a while. But who knew that Reed would sleep for six hours straight. Wayne went from sitting by the bedside holding her hand, wanting to have a deep gaze after she woke up, to letting go and taking a nap on the edge of the bed, and now he had bought a recliner from outside and was sitting on the bed reading in the natural light. After waiting and waiting, just when he was really going to use the excuse of waking her up for breakfast to wake her up, he finally managed to wake up the Drak girl.

Incidentally, the money for the recliner came from the Earl of Princeton.

The awakened girl heard a voice that was both long-lost and incredibly familiar. She was slightly taken aback, and the silver-white ahoge on her head spun around like an indicator, pointing in Wayne's direction. With a flick of her tail, she sprang up from the bed and rolled over to lie on her stomach and look at Wayne. She had no choice but to do this, since Draco's tail was too big and it was difficult for her to roll over while lying on her side.

"Awoo!"

Reed opened her mouth wide, looked at Wayne on the recliner, and tentatively called out:

"elder brother?"

Wayne nodded knowingly, and almost reflexively blurted out:

“I’m not your brother, call me Wayne.”

Reed was pleasantly surprised and got up. That familiar tone and address, it was definitely her brother!

Reed's family members all had strange obsessions. Celt refused to let Reed call her "sister," repeatedly emphasizing that she was "Your Majesty." Wayne was the same; because of the King of the North, although he acknowledged her as his sister, he stubbornly insisted that Reed only allow him to call her by her name, "Wayne," and refused to call her "brother." This was a little secret that belonged only to Reed; she had never told anyone.

Finally seeing her long-lost brother, Wei Cao was overjoyed.

She leaped onto Wayne, the fragile recliner groaning under the weight. The next second, Wayne, caught off guard by the dragon and the recliner, was sandwiched between two cheese-filled buns, letting out a miserable scream.

"Get down, get down! Don't move! You're going to be crushed to death!"

Chapter 82 The King of the North is Dead

"Brother, are you alright?"

Although Mudrock and Surtr each held one of her shoulders and prevented her from moving, Reed kept trying to move towards Wayne, her face full of guilt.

Wayne waved his hand, took a deep breath of oxygen, and answered against his will:

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

It would be a miracle if I were alright. Reed, oh Reed, I really misjudged you. Are you really not sent by the rebels to assassinate me? You may not be the killer whale Dee Dee, but you are Drak, a true Western dragon. Don't you know how heavy you are? I'm just an Aslan, my small body really can't support your massive size.

Okay, just kidding. Of course, the dragon girl and the dragon itself are different, but even so, Wayne still couldn't withstand a single horn pounce from Reed. Even now, recalling how Reed lunged at him, those massive horns like bayonets begging for a sword strike, Wayne still felt breathless and lingering fear.

If he hadn't tilted his head so quickly, he might have ended up with two holes in his head. Plus, he'd already spent the whole night squatting at the Earl of Princeton because he was playing the long game, so he wasn't in good spirits. This sudden shock really did cause him to feel a bit oxygen-deprived.

"Thank you, Kal'tsit."

Wayne turned his head to thank Kal'tsit, who was dressed in a women's tailcoat and skillfully performing medical work, but unfortunately he only received a disdainful glare from her, as if to say, "It's only been one night, no, half a night, and you've brought back another woman."

Wayne could only awkwardly turn his head away. This time, he really didn't know how to explain.

It is true that Reed was brought back by him (his men), and she is indeed in some sense a competitive relationship with Theresa. After all, although Wayne himself did not agree, the King of the North had indeed tacitly agreed to marry Reed to Wayne.

Although no one knows about this except for the King of the North himself and Wayne, who has regained his memories.

Wayne glanced at the reeds.

She probably... doesn't know, right?

Reed, of course, had no idea what Wayne was thinking. She was currently regretting her earlier overreaction that had almost caused a disaster. Although her little feet still wanted to get closer to Wayne, she didn't try to forcefully break free from Surtr and Mudrock's grasp. She simply hung her head, her ahoge swaying left and right, repeatedly apologizing:

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"You can't do that again next time." Wayne pursed his lips, looked at Reed's pitiful expression, and didn't continue to scold her. He gave her a simple warning, and after confirming that Reed nodded, he changed the subject:

Do you know why you're here?

The reed tilted its head in confusion, thought for a moment, and said:

"Because my brother brought me back?"

Wayne nodded, his expression turning serious, but seeing Wei Cao's innocent and natural look, he relaxed and could only give up, adding:

"To be precise, it should be 'bring you back'! Do you know why I'm bringing you back?"

Wei Cao frowned, lost in thought. For some reason, as she pondered, a faint blush gradually appeared on her face, and she said somewhat shyly:

"Because my sister and I didn't come looking for my brother, he came looking for us?"

What kind of answer is that...?

Wayne's lips twitched, but then he suddenly realized what was happening, straightened up, and asked:

"Your sister?"

Reed has an older sister, how could he forget that!

According to Reed's files and voice hints from her previous life in the Ark, for a long time, Reed was her sister's "stand-in," acting in her sister's name across the land. Her sister was the leader of the three major factions in Victoria—Athrun, Unicorn, and Drak, specifically the Drak faction [Deeppool].

【Deeppool】 is a secret organization formed by the Drak restorationists. Its headquarters and specific structure were not clear in the Ark game before Wayne's transmigration. The only known information is that this organization is secretly hidden in the northern border of Victoria, led by Reed's sister, waiting for an opportunity to overthrow Aslan's rule, liberate the conquered cities and assimilated people, and rebuild the Drak dynasty.

Just because it's not explicitly stated in the game doesn't mean it doesn't exist on the real Terra. Wayne rubbed his forehead in frustration. Information about this organization was so scarce that he hadn't even realized at first that Victoria posed a real threat to "shake the Aslan monarchy." And now, even though he had realized it, the situation hadn't improved at all, because even as a transmigrator, his understanding of this organization wasn't necessarily any better than it is now.

This was the first organization he had truly faced head-on since arriving in Terra—an organization "destined to play an important role in the story," yet "whom he knew nothing about." Although he had anticipated this, Wayne couldn't help but feel somewhat helpless; this day had come far too soon.

Fortunately, there was a living "traitor" right in front of him.

Wayne gave a friendly smile, and was about to ask about Sister Reed, but Reed preemptively asked curiously:

"Brother, where is Father? Didn't he come with you? The thing he discussed with me last time... I... I agreed!"

Forcing herself to finish speaking, Wei Cao's face turned completely red, and she lowered her head shyly, not daring to look directly at Wayne's figure.

But to the onlookers' surprise, Wayne, who had clearly been about to speak, inexplicably swallowed back the words he was about to say. The usually handsome and sunny boy suddenly lowered his head, subconsciously avoiding Reed's gaze, and didn't even ask what Reed had mentioned about "what the King of the North discussed with her."

This was completely out of character for Vayne. Mudrock and Surtr exchanged a puzzled look, then turned to Vayne with some concern. Only Kal'tsit, who seemed to know a little about the situation, saw Vayne's conflicted expression and stepped in to help:

“Miss Reed, the King of the North... has passed away.”

Reed's pupils contracted sharply, the joyful expression of their long-awaited reunion froze on her face, and she opened her mouth but couldn't utter a single syllable. After a long while, she stammered and asked:

"Huh? What?"

That's all for today.

Wayne suddenly stood up, enduring the inexplicable pain in his chest and the suffocating pressure, and changed the subject in an extremely stiff tone:

"It's pretty much confirmed that the culprit behind this Northern rebellion is the Drak Restorationist organization, Deeppool, and its leader, Reed's sister. Kal'tsit, inform Ernest and Winster of this. We'll discuss the rest tomorrow. That concludes today's meeting."

His gaze passed through Mudrock's massive armored body and Surtr's slender black leather skirt, landing on the bedroom door, and he said:

"Gentlemen, except for the reeds, please leave now."

Then, he looked at the reeds standing there, stunned, took a deep breath, and said:

“Reed, I have something I want to tell you.”

PS: Py: The story of an SCP task force member who arrives on Terra due to the influence of SCP.

[A serious and well-developed story with a well-thought-out protagonist; not a wish-fulfillment novel]

Arknights story, feel free to check it out if you're interested.